A massively destructive tornado tore through Greene County in 1974.
The National Afro-American Museum and Cultural Center in Wilberforce has been working with WYSO this spring to gather and broadcast oral histories of tornado survivors.
A lot of attention has been paid to the impact on Xenia. But the town of Wilberforce, including Central State and Wilberforce universities, were also hit hard today.
In our series finale, Martha Cline, who was a senior at Central State when the tornado hit, shares her story.
"What on earth is going on?"
I am quite scared of tornadoes. But the funny thing is my daughter — who was nowhere near born at that time — is absolutely petrified of tornadoes. So I don't know if I somehow passed that on to her. She's even more scared than I am.
My mother and I had actually left the campus about ten minutes before the tornado hit. And we had no idea. I don't think there was any warning or anything as I can remember.
She was teaching at Wilberforce, and we usually tried to coordinate our schedules. One of us might have to wait for the other one a little bit.
But she picked me up on campus. We were on our way, driving home when there was huge, huge hail storm. I mean just giant hail stones.
And we thought, what on earth is going on? We had never seen such hail.
And we got home and turned on the radio and just couldn't believe the devastation that had just happened about ten minutes after we left to go — our home was in between Yellow Springs and Springfield — and I just couldn't believe it.
Defying odds, university stays open
Dr. Lionel Newsom (Central State President) — I'm sorry I get so emotional after all these years — was amazing.
People were afraid that this would be used as an excuse to close Central State. I remember he was very strong and said "We are not closing. We will come back from this."
Our entire senior class was able to graduate after that devastation. They just found classes particularly for the seniors. They focused on the seniors after that so we could graduate.
Graduating after devastation
We just met wherever was available for the last few classes. I remember one — I don't remember which class it was — but it was in a basement. The top of the building had a lot of damage, but the basement was still intact and safe.
The graduation was very meaningful after what the campus and everyone in the whole area had been through.
It was outside, and I remember clearly marching in with our class.
"The tornado was one example of many, actually, that Central State had a lot to overcome. But it was a really big thing to overcome."
My dad was the architect who redesigned some of the destroyed buildings.
The two that he did were the administration building — I love that building and loves architecture of that — and Galloway Tower.
Rebuilding campus
Galloway Tower in particular was meaningful to me, because the tower completely fell off. I asked him, "How did you redesign and get it back on the building?"
But that building's very meaningful because it's the Alumni Tower and building, and I'm an alumni. And it was historical. The tower was very historical, but the tower has the new piece on the bottom and still has the Galloway Tower on it.
It's really a symbol to me. I have pictures of that and they're very important pictures to me because it's symbolic of the old and the new. The renewal, rising up from the ashes of the tornado to rebuild.
I just think it was another example of the Central State being able to overcome a lot of things.
We were never funded nearly to the extent that Wright State was. There's just no comparison.
We just had a lot of really good leaders and presidents who really kept everything going and lifted up the school.
The tornado was one example of many, actually, that Central State had a lot to overcome. But it was a really big thing to overcome.
This story was produced by WYSO’s Chris Welter. Chelsea Cozad, Kevin Lydy, and MacKenzie Snare from the National Afro-American History Museum conducted the interview.
